1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to a flying vehicle with a retractable wing assembly and, more particularly, pertain to a flying vehicle with a retractable wing assembly that includes an articulating support mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Travelers and long distance commuters have traditionally been forced to drive to an airport in order to switch from a ground vehicle to an airplane, helicopter or the like. Upon arrival at their destinations, they must switch back to another ground vehicle such as a rented car or taxi. These realities and limitations of modern transportation systems result in a tremendous amount of wasted money and time because travelers and commuters are forced to repeatedly switch back and forth between ground vehicles and air-going vehicles.
In this time of ever-increasing road traffic and with people often preferring to live outside of urban centers, a single vehicle capable of changing "on-the-go" from a terra mode to a flying mode would be highly desirable. Although a combined road vehicle and aircraft is known, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,374 to Miller, the art is devoid of a vehicle capable of changing from a land to air to land transport mechanism without having to stop the vehicle. Furthermore, no vehicle is known that has a wing assembly designed to be easily extended or retracted, on-the-go, without employing cumbersome latches or mechanisms for pivoting the wing assembly upward away from or downward toward the body of the vehicle.